kalk drip.... many ?????

[BSHANE651]

ok I am researching adding a kalk drip to my tank, but i have a lot of questions, i am not turning up much info.
I understand that kalwasser powder adds calcium and alk to your tank right?

what about pickling lime, does this boost calcium?? or is it just alk???

does anyone have a simple setup for one of these, complicated is not good until i understand it , then i can get crafty

thanks in advance

 

[les]

Shane,
Call me, I am building a lime water reactor. (kalkwasser is German for lime water)
I should have it build by the end of the week.

 

[MikeS]

Picking lime is basically the same thing....there is some debate as to the purity of picking lime compared to commercial kalk mixes. I have used picking lime for 5 years now with no problems.

My dosing system is as simple and primative as they come... :lol: I have a 1 gallon rubbermaid juice bottle with a lid...I drilled a small hole about 5/8's of an inch from the bottom...I have an airline running from this hole to a plastic needle valve. I mix the kalk daily, let it settle for at least 6 hours, then I drip it at night....the residue is left in the bottle...

MikeS

 

[CarlaW]

I'm using the same thoery Mike is, except mine is a 5 gallon bucket and I drip 24/7.
I also use pickling lime.

 

[bradreef]

If you have a decent size tank then you can drip 24/7 like charlie does. kalkreactors do .

 

[LakeEd]

DIY Kalk Dripper

This is a simple, inexpensive Kalk dripper. It may not be a precise way to dose Kalk, but it works wonderfully!



I've used one of the Oceanic containers. This holds just over 1 1/2 gallons of RO/DI water. Notice the long airline tubing to the Left, with the green Air Valve on it. This is how I control the drip.

This is how I installed the airlines thru the lid of the Oceanic container. The long tube inside, is where the long airline tube and valve is connected to outside. The short tube has the shorter length airline tub outside.

I've placed the lid on top of the container in this picture. The drip line goes to the left, and the shorter airline tube is tucked back thru the handle of the container. Notice the length of the hard airline tube. It is long enough to fit down into the container when screwed on, and be about 1 1/2" off the bottom of the container.

I simply mix my Kalk in this container. There are no holes, so no worries about anything giving out and leaking all over the place on me. I place the long airline with the Air Valve over my sump... and open it fully. I then gently blow into the short airline. This builds up pressure inside the container, forcing the liquid out the long airline. As soon as the dripping starts I'm able to stop blowing, and tuck that line back thru the handle.

Now, simple adjust the Air Valve to the desired drip rate. For my system, since I drip Kalk over night... I adjust that drip rate to 1 drop about every 2 seconds. In the morning before heading off to work, I simply close that Air Valve.

This replenishes most of my evaporation water daily, and at the same time is adding Kalk to my system.

 

[gobie]

i wouldn't buy into the hype that pickeling lime is any worse than reefgrade it is the same stuff with a diffrent name it is all food quality lime. as are most additives you add to your tank. the debate has been around for quite some time like overdriving bulbs, etc. you get the idea.

 

[MikeS]

Agreed....I've used it for quite some time now with no noticeable problems....just make sure you let it settle out good before dripping (this goes for any kalk mix) to help avoid adding the nasties....

MikeS

 

[BSHANE651]

Shane,
Call me, I am building a lime water reactor. (kalkwasser is German for lime water)
I should have it build by the end of the week.

les ill call ya tonight, id love to see how your putting this together

 

[BSHANE651]

lake ed ... this looks very easy to make, and i appreciate your thorough description, how big is your system?? i looking to build something for a fifty five gallon tank, my evap rate is about 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon per day give or take ,

so heres the dumb question, does this keep your test levels were you want them???

 

[LakeEd]

I built that Kalk-Dripper, for my 75gallon system. Worked wonderfully. On that, I would evap about a gallon a day, and adjusting my drip rate to just about 1-2 drips per minute, seemed to supply me about 3/4gallon a day.

Dripping Kalk, doses Calcium and Alk both in proprotion. If your levels are out of ballance, Kalk isn't the method you should chose to use. If they are, then Kalk does a wonderful job, for smaller tanks with lower requirements for Calcium... because it IS a balanced addition of both Calcium and Alk.

 

[NaH2O]

I use the analytical grade kalk. Here are a couple of articles for you:

What your grandmother never told you about lime

The degradation of limewater in air

 

[BSHANE651]

thanks nikki for the very helpful articles,

so how much lime per gallon of r/o water ????

i have see the culligan water 2 gallon jugs, they are hard plastic, and they are square with a spout, im going to check into these and see if a drip line can be added

 

[DonW]

thanks nikki for the very helpful articles,

so how much lime per gallon of r/o water ????

i have see the culligan water 2 gallon jugs, they are hard plastic, and they are square with a spout, im going to check into these and see if a drip line can be added

Anywhere from 1/2 tsp to two tsp. I think you need to look at why you want to use kalk. This will help in deciding exactly what addition method and quantity to use.

Don

 

[BSHANE651]

Anywhere from 1/2 tsp to two tsp. I think you need to look at why you want to use kalk. This will help in deciding exactly what addition method and quantity to use.

Don

i want to use kalk to maintain adequate calcium and alkaline levels, presently my tank is evap abouth 3/4 gallon per day i would like to replace my evap water w/ calcium rich water , and since i am topping off every single day at this time, this seems more practical than my previous method of replacing lost calcium.

of course ill will be testing calcium levels and i will undoubtedly have to tweek it some, but am looking for a starting point

 

[DonW]

i want to use kalk to maintain adequate calcium and alkaline levels, presently my tank is evap abouth 3/4 gallon per day i would like to replace my evap water w/ calcium rich water , and since i am topping off every single day at this time, this seems more practical than my previous method of replacing lost calcium.

of course ill will be testing calcium levels and i will undoubtedly have to tweek it some, but am looking for a starting point

What is your daily ca and alk usage? What is your day time ph level? What is your night time ph level. The reason I ask is that your consumption may be much more than kalk will supply. Also if your ph is already steady and at the high end of the scale you may shoot it up to high.

Don

 

[MikeS]

I find this to be the case...even though I drip kalk as all makeup water, I still have to periodically bump up my Ca and Alk using other means...

MikeS

 

[Ohgee]

Not to rehash an old subject but I just wanted to double check what I'm doing.

As of today I have started to drip Kalk at a rate of about 1drip/sec . I mixed 2 tsp ms wages pickeling lime to 1 gal RO water and am dripping into the sump. I made my own container out of an old plastic milk bottle using basically the same idea as LakeEd did.

Seems to work pretty well. What I'm worried about is from the start how often should I check para's while dripping?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Duane

 

[CarlaW]

Are you dripping 24/7 or just at nite. Alot of people just drip at nite to help offset the Ph drop. I would keep a close eye on things for about a week at least, just to see the effect that it has on your system. After that test once weekly just cuz. HTH

 

[Ohgee]

you have to remember Charlie, just how lazy I am

I was planning on letting it drip till empty then refill every evening around same time and restart. I would imagine that at 1drip/sec 1 gal would be gone in in about 12hours. Maybe not but ...... well I don't know

Lets see ..... tomarrow night I'll check para's again and see how badly I effected everything and go from there. Just for your information, here's my para's at 11:00 this morning.

CA-420
Dkh - 2.86
PH - 8.1
temp - 87deg

I added 3/.5 tsp baking/washing soda after reading